Research review
Over the semester I worked with a young girl who is an English language learner (ELL). An English language learner is someone who is not yet fully competent with the English language and his or her native language is not English (Lerner and Johns, 2012). Lowered English competency leads individuals to encounter difficulties comprehending and using the English language (Learner and Johns, 2012). The need for adequate language capabilities is paramount in life and education, without it one may not receive information or actively participate in the environment. An ELL student may be considered to be academically disadvantaged when compared to peers, whose native language is English. Therefore, it is common to think of English language learners as having a learning disability. This is because learning disabilities are conditions that hinder learning for many individuals and it affects schooling as well as aspects of adult life (Lerner and Johns, 2012). Canada, being a diverse country, is experiencing an increase in the number of English language learners within its educational system (Lerner and Johns, 2012). The need for successful interventions for this student population is becoming increasingly important as the number of ELL students continue to rise.
Current research on English language learners illustrates a variety of interventions available within the domain of education. The main focus of these interventions is to counteract the limitations ELL’s encounter, while increasing the likelihood of acquiring proficiency in the English language. Interventions prominent in educating these individuals include: teaching and using language-learning strategies, pairing an ELL student with a bilingual student...
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...an Secondary English Language Learners: How Peer Instructors Support Learning. Bilingual Research Journal: The Journal of the National Association for Bilingual Education, 35(1), 76-97.
Goldsmith, W. (2013). Enhancing classroom conversation for all students: strategies that foster discussion among ELL students can help them learn language while teaching critical skills. Phi Delta Kappan, 94(7), 48.
Lerner, J. W., & Johns, B. H. (2012). Spoken Language Difficulties: Listening and Speaking. Learning disabilities and related mild disabilities: teaching strategies and new directions (12th ed. Pg. 319-355). USA: Wadsworth Cengage Learning.
Tabatabaei, O., & Hoseini, H. S. (2014). EFL and ESP learners' use of language learning strategies: a study of collocations. Journal of Language Teaching and Research, 5(1), 112-120.
“Let Them Talk!” written by Wayne E. Wright is an article that focuses on the idea of promoting English Language Learners (ELL) oral-language skills in the classroom instruction time to improve their literacy and academic achievement. Too often are an ELL’s speaking and listening skills overlooked and not given enough attention to, even though it is one of the most important parts of communication. Wright encourages teachers working with ELL students to allow time for the student to adjust, not to pressure them into their language development, respect their various stages, bring them into whole class and small group discussions, correct simple language errors in speaking that impeded comprehension, and have them interact and communicate in the classroom for meaningful purposes.
Walking around I can observe that student’s population is Hispanic who are ESL. This student’s first language is Spanish and has little bit knowledge of English. They are able to take conversation with their peer with the Basic English they know, but struggle to talk in complete sentences. For example the
The purpose of this study is to figure out which ways experienced teachers work best with culturally and linguistically diverse students. This study illustrates which strategies experienced teachers have found to work best. The diversity in school in the United States has increased each year. This means that there are an increasing amount of students who are learning English, English language learners (ELLs). This article comes from the perspective that each child should be taught to their specific needs. All students deserve a fair chance to learn. Fair means that every student is treated differently, not equally. Every student learns differently. In order to give every student a fair chance at learning, you must teach them according to their needs. An experienced teacher, Tiffany, describes her experiences working with culturally and linguistically diverse students. This study watches her methods and discusses what works based on data analysis of the success of her students.
Due to the rise in immigration and the demographics of classrooms in America are changing. As a result, English Language Learners are becoming more common in schools. English Language Learners make up one of the largest demographics in the American Classroom (Flynn & Hill, 2005). These students have been observed to have a major achievement gap because many of these students are placed in mainstream classrooms with basic literacy skills. Many English Language Learners are born in the United States (Goldenberg, 2008). These students have only attended the school system in America. However, the achievement levels are nowhere near the level of their peers. According to Calderon, Slavin, and Sanchez (2011) “these students, who have been in U.S. schools since kindergarten, are still classified as limited English proficient when they reach middle or high school— suggesting strongly that preschool and elementary programs are not adequately addressing the needs of English learners.” The achievement gap between English Language Learners and native English speaking students is extremely high. English Language Learners tests scores are low. According to the 2007 National Assessment of Educational Progress, “fourth grade ELLs scored 36 points lower than their peers on the reading section of the test and 25 points below their peers in math. The results in eighth grade were worse with a difference of 42 points in reading and 37 points in math” (Goldenberg, 2008). The gap between ELLs and non-ELLs are three to eighteen points larger then students from low-income households.
Because America is such a diverse country, public schools are faced with the challenge of providing students from all over the world with a quality education. As Chen points out “public schools have embraced the linguistic challenge presented by immigrant students” (¶1). Then, No Child Left Behind law was approved, and it required every public school should have an English Secondary Language (ESL) program that will provide the “academic support” for English Language Learners (ELLs). ELL parents are happy that their children are getting education help from the school, but it has raised the question of how successful are the ESL programs? Do ESL programs provide enough “academic support” to all ELL students? Do ESL programs have enough tools to help students learn English? Some ELL parents complain that ESL programs do not help their child learn English. A successful ESL program is not based solely on the test scores, but also the ability to connect parents, teachers, and students together to strengthen tools that will help ELL students to learn a new language in reading, writing, and speaking.
No other language group makes up more than 4% of limited English proficient students. What complicates the issue of education for language minority students is their low socioeconomic status. 80% of ELL students are poor, and most attend schools where the majority of students also live in poverty and are English language learners. There is some difference in the level of poverty among language groups. Here, again, Latinos are disproportionately represented: 57% of Spanish-speaking families earn less than $20,000 compared to, for example, only 35% of families where Asian/Pacific Island languages are spoken (McArthur, 1993).
Teachers who work with English Language Learners know that academic language takes longer to achieve proficiency in than does conversational language. On average, ELL students need at least two years to achieve conversational language and, five to nine years to develop academic language proficiency. Many English words ELL students are exposed to in school, they have not yet learned or even heard in their first language, which makes transference of knowledge impossible. The vast differences in the ability to use conversational versus academic language can be a hindrance to these students and have lasting effects on their academics and therefore, their lives.
Teachers also find it difficult, due to lack of training, having ELL’s with learning disabilities in their classrooms. More teachers would find their selves comfortable if they had training in dealing with ELL’s and ELL’s with learning disabilities. This paper discusses the issues and the concerns teachers have in dealing with ELLs and ELLs with disabilities, the challenges of identifying individuals with learning disabilities, and what type of assessments classify English Language Learners as having a learning disability. First, teachers are rarely prepared to handle the challenges of assessing students who have a learning disability coupled with limited English proficiency (Haung, Milczarski, Raby, 2011). Teachers usually have trouble distinguishing between a learning disorders and acquiring a second language.
One of the first challenges that ELL instructors must come to terms with is the identification and assessment of their students’ learning capabilities in their classroom. Traditional identification instruments designed for English speakers may not be valid with English language learners. Identification of English language learners with special needs should include consideration of several factors, such as family history, developmental and health history, first language and literacy development, previous schooling, and the learners' current academic ability, just to name a few. Learning in any language is affected by learning disabilities, but second language learners with special needs present additional educational challenges. According to the British Columbia Ministry of Education, Skills, and Training (Fowler & Hooper, 1998), instructors of English language learners with special needs should consider the cultural, developmental, and first language background of the learner. They should also do the following: (1.) Provide a highly structured learning environment; (2.) Focus on contextual learning;
The purpose of this assignment is to explain the impact of English language learners in the classroom. As a foreign student, English language learner in the United States faces multiple challenges for achieving academic success. To successfully complete a task, they need to master both English as a language and how it is used in core content classes especially when they are an adult. When trying to assist in instructing English language learners, they usually have many concepts and language abilities that they need to master, as do the teachers that are trying to teach them. With the incorporation of the concepts and approaches to identify and assess the issues and concerns that we have learned in our classroom instruction, such as lesson preparation,
Introduction (a) Department/system policies Learning difficulties come in many shapes and forms, and it can range from children with health disabilities such as ADHD, Down syndrome, to children that speak other languages and English is their second language. The focus of this assessment will be for year five students with different mother language and English as their second language. The teaching subject will be English and the focusing curriculum retrieved from Australia curriculum (2108) would be such as: "Understand the use of vocabulary to express greater precision of meaning, and know that words can have different meanings in different contexts (ACELA1512)". "Understand how to use knowledge of known words, base words, prefixes
...l survival in our society. I work as a counselor each summer at a sports camp in Philadelphia, and each summer I encounter very intelligent students who are placed in lower tracks or labeled as ìlearning deficientî because of their language. This disturbs me because as a speaker of both Black Vernacular speech and Standard English, I know that students can learn to use Standard English just as I have. Unfortunately, many students are not privileged enough to have the same educational opportunities that I was given by my parents, therefore, it is my responsibility to teach these students Standard English the way that I have been taught. But I must learn more about teaching students and dealing with the issues that plague the educational system, and I am looking forward to receiving more of this knowledge during my pre-student teaching and student teaching experiences.
ESP may ease the way for language learners if it presents something that its learners are familiar with, however believing in that completely may get us as language teacher trapped as ESP does not cover language completely. The problem or problem with ESP is not always clear and is clearly distinctive from general English.
The English Language Development Standards are critical to the success of students identified as English Language Learners in our classrooms. The ELD Standards make crucial demands of educators and require educators, schools, and districts to hold themselves accountable in the delivery of ELL specific instruction. By ensuring equity in instructional practices, these standards “seamlessly integrate[s] language development within the context areas” (Gottlieb 2016). The goal of the ELD standards is to provide meaningful ELL instruction in an inclusive and equitable manner.
The primary aim of any ESP course is to answer the question “why do the learners need to learn the foreign language”? This means the focal emphasis is on helping the learners to communicate accurately and precisely. Therefore, ESP adapts elements from other approaches as a foundation for its own methods and techniques. An ESP course is thus designed to cater for the appropriate structural, functional, and discourse levels learners might need for developing the needed language competence (Hutchinson & Waters: 1987).